Educational & Social Services

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

Learning Partnership - Making the Future Happen

The constant drive towards improvement in East Ayrshire is based upon careful approaches to planning, complemented by systematic evaluation. Within the five national priorities for improvement in education, the council's own Priority to Improvement statement for this year establishes a clear and practical guide to the future. This approach to improvement requires to be reflected in development plans, within which, we must focus on equality of opportunity for all.

To be an effective school in this decade clearly requires a change in culture. Schools need to be open, non-threatening establishments which are driven by need, clarity, a focus on quality, practicality, a respect for others, local ownership and an understanding of negativity. If there is resistance to plans for change, it's important that we understand why that resistance exists.

Perhaps one of the most important developments in recent years has been the introduction of flexibility in curriculum planning in schools. The ability now exists in a planned and controlled way to present a curriculum which is more closely geared to the needs of the individual students than hitherto. The rigid inflexibility of the past has gone.

Parents and pupils have to be given every opportunity to express themselves clearly on a wide range of key topics. The school of the future is a lively, caring, forward looking, integrated service and learning organisation.

It is when we place the student at the centre of all that we do that we develop a shared understanding of the needs of the student and make a commitment to deliver in response to those needs. To ensure that the student is well served rests upon a focus on learning, a focus on caring, a focus on commitment and a focus on the individual. It is when we understand how best to place and support the student at the centre that integrated service delivery is seen as a natural and logical consequence. Shared commitment is very important in the new way ahead in East Ayrshire. No one establishment, no one individual in any of our establishments holds the monopoly of wisdom.

When reflecting on the way ahead therefore, it is seen as a natural and logical progression to introduce learning partnerships.

From September 2002, nine learning partnerships will be introduced into the nine secondary school areas in East Ayrshire and will have a sharp focus on improvement. A detailed and regular analysis of attainment will be carried out and strategies to improve achievement will be worked out. In parallel to this and complementary to the focus on improvement is a focus on integrated service delivery, with Health, Education, Social Work and Community Services colleagues pulling together in support of individual students in the schools in the learning partnership. The new community school approach is now being introduced to all of our schools and that is a significant step.

Local learning partnerships will facilitate planning together. Resources can be shared and partnerships can be formed or strengthened. The emphasis in local service delivery will be determined. This means that the members of learning partnerships will be required to work together to strengthen service delivery and greatly facilitate the delivery of Priority to Improvement.

Learning partnerships will have a particular focus on pathways to inclusion, considering how the inclusion agenda can be better delivered. The emphasis will be on providing support for the most vulnerable young people. For example, pupils with behavioural problems, looked after and accommodated children, young people with learning disabilities and young people with special needs will be a priority.

Another key feature of learning partnerships will be their ability to determine how best to drive up standards not only for those in school, but in the community. The council plans to eradicate literacy and numeracy difficulties in East Ayrshire as quickly and effectively as possible.

Through the learning partnerships, the council wants to ensure a regular and steady pattern of improvement, an ability to address the effects of social deprivation and the commitment to chart imaginative and innovative ways to achieve improvement.

The Education Committee has agreed to establish nine quality improvement officers, one for each learning partnership. These officers will effectively support and challenge establishments. They have a key role to play in assisting Head Teachers to take forward the agenda for action.

The learning partnerships will aim to provide innovative opportunities to plan better, to monitor the effectiveness of local service delivery and, by placing the young person at the centre of all that we do, provide a network of integrated services which will provide enhanced support or all young people in East Ayrshire resulting in improvement in attainment.